Activist groups focus on landlords

Sep. 23, 2012

Written by

Advocate Reporter

ADVICE FOR TENANTS

» Pay your rent on time, even if you have complaints for the landlord. You can be evicted if the rent is late.

» Avoid paying rent in cash, but if you do, get a receipt.

» If a landlord refuses to make repairs, tell the landlord if improvements are not made by a certain deadline, such as 30 days, you plan to deposit your rent payment into escrow with the local municipal or county court. Continue paying rent to the court until the repairs are made.

» Except with good reason, permit your landlord to enter your home if you receive at least 24 hours notice. The landlord must give a tenant 24 hours notice before entering the home, except in the case of an emergency.

» If you sign a lease, make sure you get a copy. The lease should contain: property description or address; names of landlord and tenant; begin and end dates for the lease; due date for rent and where rent is paid; amount of rent and late charges; landlord rules and regulations; tenant rights and responsibilities.

» If something breaks, tell the landlord immediately. A delay could cause further damage and the tenant might become responsible for the repair.

» Get all agreements in writing.

Source: Ohio Landlord-Tenant Law

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NEWARK -- The city's attempts in recent years to clean up residential eyesores or tear them down has led to the pursuit of rental registration as a way to clamp down on landlords who own rundown properties.

A Newark City Council ad-hoc committee recently wrapped up its review of the issue and will propose legislation to the council's Economic Development Committee.

Also, the Citizens Committee on Housing Rights recently formed to educate renters on the landlord-tenant law and the responsibilities of both sides.

"I'd like to see rental registration," said Nancy Welu, a member of both committees. "A small fee would be paid per rental unit. I'd like it under the property maintenance office. For the money, hire another inspector.

"I'd like to see mandatory inspections (including the interior) for landlords with property maintenance violations against them."

Landlords comprise virtually all of the few attendees at rental registration committee meetings. Some of them said they oppose rental registration.

Tim Bailey, a landlord who is a member of the committee, said the city needs more teeth in the property maintenance law and more enforcement of the current law.

"My biggest concern is they originally said yearly inspections for every rental in Newark and collect a fee for every rental," Bailey said. "I don't think they should reach in my pocket to punish the four or five bad landlords in the city."

The magnitude of rental oversight could be overwhelming. The city has 8,647 rental units, according to the 2010 U.S. Census, and 19,840 people living in rental housing. There are 2,961 rental housing units in single-family homes or duplexes.

Mayor Jeff Hall said the city can achieve the goals of rental registration without creating a new city office.

"My concern is the enforcement of it," Hall said. "It's invalid if we can't enforce it. I think the right way to address it is property maintenance.

"At the end of the day, a property owner has a lot of rights. We can't just jump in and take it away. We have to go through a process."

The South Newark Civic Association, after a review of houses was conducted in that part of town, submitted 72 addresses with property maintenance problems or possible demolition candidates. The city already has a list of 50 houses the city is tearing down.

In May, a city ordinance placed property liens for property maintenance violations on 61 substandard properties. According to county auditor records, 44 of them were rentals.

Darrell and Lucinda Ellis, who live in Heath, owed the city almost $10,000 in fines and maintenance costs on nine properties in Newark. Ellis, who declined to comment on the violations earlier this year, owned 38 properties in the county at the time.

David Green, a member of the Citizens Committee on Housing Rights, said the city's problem goes deeper than a handful of landlords.

"There's a lot of slumlords in Newark," Green said. "When you go to eviction court, almost all of the tenants don't know their rights, and the landlord has an attorney with them. It's not a fair playing field.

"There's a lot of housing in Newark that needs attention, and is not fit to live in sometimes. The idea of rental registration is to try to get the slumlords of Newark to register and have those properties inspected so tenants have some protection."

Dennis Harrington, director of Southeast Ohio Legal Services, said some of the worst landlords rent to some of the worst tenants, who are unlikely to complain.

"There are some tenants out there hard to rent to because of evictions and criminal records, and landlords rent to them because they can get away with stuff," Harrington said.

"Some are scrambling to put a roof over their head. Some landlords prey on those people."

Harrington advises tenants to pay their rent no matter what problems they have with the landlord, but they can put the rent in escrow with Licking County Municipal Court until the problem is resolved.

Most tenants do not realize that's an option, Harrington said, as evidenced by court statistics showing 3,856 eviction records in the county during the past five years, but just 21 rent payments placed into escrow.

Welu said even if the city council votes against rental registration, the issue of rental housing conditions will continue.

"There's no oversight of rentals, and they're not policing their own," Welu said. "The landlords are very organized. If landlords think we're going away, we're not. In fact, we're mobilizing more people."